Everything we own comes from an Asian continent.  Why?  I haven’t the slightest idea anymore.  Do employers and people on wallstreet have any idea how much money American would rake in if it produced it’s own products?  How many jobs it would give Americans that deserve it?  The arrogance of bankers, congress, and politicians alike amazes me, but I never thought I would see the day that even the graphic t-shirts that I’ve come to love would fall prey to economic troubles and Asian outsourcing.  Even those trendy artists and tree huggers alike that claim their tees that they sell on the streets of major cities are ‘homemade’ fail to note that the cotten t-shirts that they are printing on come from China, Taiwan, or some other country selling them at dirt cheap wholesale prices.  Ninety-seven percent of all clothing sold in the United States is no longer made in the U.S. Yet, Minnesota is home to two long-standing textile manufacturers. 

Today I am offering a retrospective, and a digital monument to all of those creative graphic t-shirts made in America.

Get Funky - Put some funk into your graphic t-shirt. This works really well by mixing up old cartoons with a bit of symbolic items like some big boom boxes of the 1980s. Making your graphic t-shirt (and maybe yourself) all funky, people will remember you and your graphic t-shirt.

Be ironic? Make up nonsense. People will look up in the face and stare at your weird graphic t-shirt remarks.

Be Unconventional- Make sure that no one understands what your t-shirt is about. It bring about attention, trust me.

Plain & Simple - Splotches of paint have never been so meaningful.

Ridicule Yourself - You can design a graphic t-shirt with a message that is meant to ridicule yourself. Yes, ridiculing yourself has to be one of the easiest ways to get some attention. By imprinting a message on the graphic t-shirt that is meant to embarrass yourself, you get to seek some fun and engaging interactions.

3D Graphic - Use 3D graphics on your graphic t-shirts. You know the kind of graphic that need 3-D glasses to see in order to understand the message! People will be dying to know what your graphic t-shirt is all about.

2. New weaving technology gives you more options. Very fine cotton is being used these days to make the t-shirt on your back. As a designer, you have the possibility to get creative with the fabrics you use to accomplish a certain kind of effect.

3. The return of retro irony and themes from the computer world. “All your bases are belong to us.” These days, you can use any popular theme from the geek world as a graphic t-shirt design. Thanks to the Internet, a design that used to be understood by only a small community now is well-known enough that a graphic t-shirt can be marketed well enough to be worth the trouble.

4. Emergence of super-soft and distressed finishes lets you age shirts. Now vintage t-shirts can look really vintage. Not only can you design the graphics that appear on the t-shirts, but you can also decide on how the fabric will be treated. Will it look like it has been worn for 3 years, or brand new?

5. New cuts and sewing techniques let you use the fabric as part of the design. Cuts are becoming more edgy as years go by. People are willing to wear basically anything, as long as they convinced that it’s cool. Now what is happening is that this philosophy is spreading to the realm of t-shirts, which was not the case before when these things were relegated to high-end fashion.

6. Websites that allow you to submit designs make it easier to get noticed. It’s never been easier to become a graphic t-shirt designer now with web sites where you can easily submit designs and get instant understanding of what people have to say about your design. You could even test your designs before investing in a project to sell them by using one of these type of sites.

7. New necklines give you something new to work with. Did someone say v-necks in 100 different styles? With or without v-neck – you must decide. A v-neck can complement a design, by cutting into it, or sitting next to it. Today there is a great variety of v-neck types to choose among.

8. People can now where your designs to go out in clubs. This allows you to design shirts that meant for this type of crowd. It opens up a whole new audience looking for edgy, original designs that are sexy and flashy at the same time, but with class.

9. Easy access to graphic design software opens up designing to everyone. It is easier than ever to become a designer. Just get a computer and an Internet connection.

10. An increasing number of people want to display messages on their clothing. It did not always used to be like this, so this is a chance for graphic t-shirt designers to take control of this large market.

http://www.granitdesign.com/

Coming up with the design of a graphic t-shirt:

You have to ask yourself what you want to say with your graphic t-shirt. Are you using words, images, or both to convey this message on the t-shirt? And what effects if any do you need to apply to these to add to the message. A graphic t-shirt can be funny, offensive, or both at the same time. There are ironic tees and some that just don’t mean anything. In any case, find the graphic t-shirt design that you wish to achieve and then move on to the making of the design.

How to make the design for a graphic tee:

If you are using today’s technologies, then to make your graphic t-shirt design, you should definitely use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. You can design your own patterns and text or borrow free imagery from the Internet. Say you wanted a skull and bones, you could probably find free images that you could style any way you wish on your t-shirt. When doing this at home, it is a good idea to keep your design as simple as possible so that you can easily cut it out. The graphic t-shirt design should fit a regular-size piece of paper: 11″ x 8″ 1/2.

Placing your design on your t-shirt:

After printing out what will become your graphic t-shirt on to iron-on printer paper (which by the way, comes in 2 kinds – one for white t-shirts and one for colored t-shirts – you can find it at your local office supply store.) you cut out the design with an exacto knife, or scissors, if you prefer. This is probably the hardest part of making your own graphic t-shirt. But after this, it’s smooth sailing. Follow whatever instructions were provided with your iron-on print paper, an iron your design on to your future graphic t-shirt.

Time to wear your graphic t-shirt:

Let the t-shirt cool down a little, and then it’s time to put it on.

RAG is putting an end to these high prices with its $20-priced graphic t-shirts available in a variety of colors for each model. At RAG, we have always been about low prices and great variety.

Here are a two of our graphic t-shirt models that are sure to turn heads:

You probably should not have any trouble naming this one:

These are all band logos that you may or may not be able to easily name as some were more or less effective in creating buzz and most importantly being worn on someone’s t-shirt. For example, how many times to do you remember seeing a Ramones band t-shirt? Probably way more than you needed to. Here are some other top 25 most effective band logos that made it into Spinner.com’s “Best Band Logos” list. Here are the first five bands and their logos:

Ramones

NIN

Public Enemy

Korn

Read the rest about band t-shirt logos on Spinner.